Sports bar chain faces whistle-blower suit

The Chickie's & Pete's sports bar chain, whose newest restaurant opened this month in Dorney Park, has been hit with whistle-blower lawsuit.

A former manager at a Chickie's & Pete's sports bar in Egg Harbor, N.J., has accused the chain of firing her after she complained about its pay practices, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.

Sharon Chase, 45, of Absecon, N.J., was fired in January after answering questions posed by a federal investigator who visited the restaurant, according to the lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Camden.

The whistle-blower suit is just the latest legal problem for the chain. It has been under investigation by the U.S. Labor Department, and dozens of current and former employees are listed as plaintiffs in a group of related class-action lawsuits alleging tip-skimming.

Founded in 1977, Chickie's & Pete's is owned by Peter Ciarrocchi Jr. The popular Philadelphia-based chain is known for its Crabfries.

Dubbed the nation's top sports bar by ESPN, there are now about a dozen outlets, plus stands at Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park, employing 1,000.

At Dorney Park, Chickie's & Pete's operates a full-service restaurant and bar. It has operated two food stands with limited menus at the South Whitehall Township amusement park since 2011.

According to the lawsuits against the chain, servers had to pay what was known as "Pete's tax" — 2 percent to 4 percent of gross cash and credit sales — into a tip pool at the end of their shifts. Some money went to cover credit-card fees or to tip busboys and bartenders, but some, employees said, simply was unaccounted for. If employees didn't earn enough in cash tips to cover "Pete's tax," they were ordered to withdraw it from a bank machine or face firing.

Earlier this year, many servers received checks with a letter signed "Pete." "We have concluded that doing the right thing by our employees means that a portion of the tip pool for 2012 should be refunded," the letter said.

The company also posted signs saying it would stop paying $15 a shift and start paying $2.83 an hour in Pennsylvania and $2.13 in New Jersey — minimum wage for tipped workers. At $15 for an eight-hour shift, workers did not earn minimum wage, a violation of the law.